Imperial Legion Warmachines
Ground Control Koala Fast Attack Vehicle The Koala is the favored vehicle of scout troopers and Storm commandos for long range planetary patrols, reconnaissance missions and heavy armor hunting. It originated in the Great Civil War, when Byzon himself heroically led road warriors in the postapocalyptic wastelands to victory using fast improvised vehicles. The modern Koala is made out of a light bragsteel chassis, and is propelled by a plutonium-spiked diesel engine with an optional turboramscramfanjet booster to give it truly ludicrous top speeds. This speed is a necessity when scouting out territory, or hunting armor. The booster even allows the Koala to jump over obstructions like rivers while dragging cables to help engineerskis set up bridges. The Koala can seat six Bragulans at most, but usually only only three or four ride at a time. Its standard armaments include mounted B-NETs, precision cannons and RPGs, though for specific missions it can carry micro-nuke launchers for hunting enemy superheavies or even microwave radiation emitters to vaporize the enemy's water supply. The closest analogue to the Koala is the Shepistani Bruce Willys Jeep armed with the Daniel Boone tac-nuke. Wvojtyek Utility Half Track Named after a paleo-historical Bragulan hero known for his faithful labours, the Wvojtyek Utility Half Track is a truly ancient workhorse originating from pre-Byzonic eras, in fact believed to be a thousand years old. Its crude simplicity means that it can be used anytime, anywhere, with abundant spare parts if its ruggedly fossilized components ever fail. As Wvojtyeks are too small to carry the nuclear reactors found in the Dredkas and Chornybs, they are instead equipped with powerful internal combustion engines that use plutonium-enriched diesel fuel, re-leaded to decrease radiation emissions. Looted and/or smuggled samples of these vehicles can be found all over Wild Space, where there is a demand for rugged and effective Bragulan engineering. The Wvojtyek is a standard mode of transportation for Bragulan infantry, and the chassis has had thousands of permutations, from having nothing but bare-bones flatbeds or simple troop compartments to modern armored command and control cabins. Often Wvojtyeks can be seen mounting heavier weaponry, such as anti-aircraft guns, missile launchers and rocket artillery racks, or towing howitzers and other equipment. Chornyb Urban Pacifier The Chornyb All-Terrain Urban Pacifier is the standard armored personnel carrier and infantry fighting vehicle of the Legions. Its standard weapons include B-NET K-cannons, grenade launchers, nuclear flamethrowers, heavy mortars, a 105mm main gun and gunports for the passengers. Active defenses, explosive reactive armor, and a multilayered bragcrete/bragsteel hull give protection to the crew and troops sardined inside it. Extra armor can be bolted on the hull to turn the Chornyb into a mobile bunker, while the gunports and passenger compartment can be replaced with launchers for various rockets and long range missiles to turn it into a tactical artillery vehicle. The main advantage of the Chornyb is its combination of firepower and versatility, the latter being a rare trait for Bragulan vehicles. The Chornyb Scout is a smaller, lighter, less armed and modular variant that is otherwise identical to the original Urban Pacifier. The Scout is not only designed for reconnaissance, but it can be modified into a mobile field hospital, a command and communications vehicle, a mobile SAM launcher, a mobile radar site, and anything else as needed. Kyrbrz Medium Tankski The Kyrbrz, nicknamed the "Care Bear", "Bruise" and "Bruz" by USMC troops, is one of the mainstays of the Legions. In fact, it has been a mainstay even before there was a Bragulan Star Empire, back in pre-Byzonic eras, and has been fighting in every Bragulan war from before the Great Civil War up to post-modern times. The centuries-old tankski is the primary armored fighting vehicle of most Imperial Legionnaire units without Dredkas, and even Dredka battalions often have the tankskis in support roles. Though old, the tankski remains very reliable, with four treads to ensure excellent off-road mobility and a hull shaped to deflect the blast waves of proximal nuclear initiations. While the armor is light by modern Bragulan standards, it can always mount applique armor, ERA blocks and bragcrete add-ons. Some tankskis still use plutonium-enriched diesel fuel engines, while more modern ones have nuclear steam turbines for primary power plants with RTG backups. Its main weapon is a 300mm railgun firing standard rocket-assisted explosives, kinetic penetrators, and atomic shells, and its secondaries include co-axial and multiple remote-controlled K-cannons for point defense and killing infantry. Compared to the Dredka, and the more advanced AFVs of other nations, the Bruz is hopelessly obsolete but thanks to its rugged reliability, and the sheer numbers of tankskis stockpiled since pre-Byzonic times, it still remains a staple for Imperial Bragulan massed tank advances and in major Brag offensives, the Bruz shows that quantity has a formidable quality of its own. Its numbers and low cost also makes the Bruz a popular export item and smaller militaries often procure tankskis and retrofit them with newer equipment, transforming them into effective semi-modern battle tanks. More innovative Legionnaire divisions also modify their tankskis extensively. 5K75 Kubuk Missile System The Kubuk is the main aerospace defense system for the Legion's PVO units, primarily comprised of a passive-aggressive sensor suite and an anti-air/space missile launcher on a mobile tracked chassis. It is superior to the tactical SAMs mounted on Chornybs and half-tracks, and can engage both endo- and exo-atmospheric threats. For medium to extreme range targets it fires salvos nuclear missiles to vaporize everything in the sky with atomics. For low altitude engagements, its missiles can fly above targets before dispensing multi-nuclear submunitions, for a new definition of 'danger close'. An integral component of the Molnya MIDAS defense grid, the Kubuk is intrinsically linked to the battle-net and works best in conjunction with a wide variety of complementary defense systems. For example, a Kubuk can use its superior sensors to feed targeting data to Wvojtyek-mounted AA guns and improve its accuracy, while the AAA provides point defense and allows the Kubuk to focus on high altitude threats. The Kubuk is central to Bragulan combined arms aerospace defense strategy, and areas saturated by the SAMs can be nigh impenetrable for enemy aerospacecraft. Kubuks can be configured to ground-attack where their various nuclear missiles have impressive surface-to-surface ranges. Krag Utility Rocket Launcher Designed as a so-called Universal Rocket Launcher in the aftermath of the Great Civil War and the ensuing Running of the Apexai, the Krag was meant to solve the incompatibility of the various rockets and missiles used by the militaries of the defunct Bragulan nations, whose stockpiles were at that time were the primary supply source of the fledgling BSE. The result was a mixed bag, the Krag could utilize many pre-Byzonic small-to-medium rockets and missile, and almost all newer models made post-Apexaia. But due to its generalist configuration it would never excel in any dedicated role, and a number of specialized launchers are still used to this day. Nevertheless, as a 'common' system the Krag has helped reduce the Legions' logistics burden, and has proved itself to be trustworthy platform for the next generation of munitions as Byzonist Bragule began making its own designs. Today, the modern Krag is the primary launch platform of a dizzying variety of both guided and ballistic bragweapons, from simple mass artillery rockets and saturation atomics, to MIDAS-linked surface-to-air missilery and cruise missiles like the Kub and Moskill. Its flexibility also makes it a favorite for Legions engineerski divisions, as it can be used to either dispense nuclear landmines or clear minefields with tactical nukes, for peaceful applications in sterilizing bio/nano/chemical agents with vegemite-vespene thermobarics, less-peacefully use those same thermobarics to clear small insurgent towns, or just launch biochemical and/or vegemitic toxin-dispersing rockets. Krags are also used extensively in mountain-clearing and mountain-flattening earthworks, in urban terror operations by dropping either Skiravics, propaganda leafelets, or poisoned foods on population centers, or even to resupply distant Bragulan ground formations through rocket-propelled provisions which may be sometimes mixed up with the aforementioned poisoned foods. In the First Solarian War, which saw the debut of the Krag, the system underwent extensive field testing in launching all sorts of munitions - the most notorious of which were the rockets loaded with Karlack facecrabs, used on the city of Ravenholme in Kimanjano. The ensuing horror, and facecrab-infested smartwolves, resulted in the Krag battery burning down the entire city and the surrounding forest with radioactive incendiaries. Dredka Massive Battle Tank The Dredkaflauvisk massive battle tank is the principal warmachine of the Legions of Liberation. It is a monstrous multi-tracked mechanical mountain of bragsteel alloy buried under even more slabs of bragcrete applique and explosive reactive armor, and is armed with a truly obscene amount of guns, cannons, missiles and rockets, making it one of the heavier armored fighting ground vehicles in the galaxy. It is a favorite for Bragulan ground commanders, who usually employ the Dredka in sweeping combined arms offensives to overwhelm the enemy with a wall of armor and atomics. Dredkas generally come in two versions, the variant used by the the Legionnaires is the more massive over ''tank that sports even more guns, armor, sponson-cannons, missile batteries and sometimes even shield generators than normal; overtanks are sometimes also referred to as siege tanks, as they are designed to end sieges by ending the cities that are being besieged. The second version for the Shock Army's aerospacemobile forces is the ''drop ''tank, which is a slightly smaller and lighter version designed to be rapidly deployed - by getting dropped from orbit, with its bragcrete armor serving as a heat-shield for reentry and the retrorockets bolted on to the hull and multiple-parachutes to help direct its course and cushion its crash landing. Either versions are formidable war machines in their own right, a single Dredka is capable of dishing out maximum damage with an arsenal of tactical atomics, while requiring an inordinate amount of fire to defeat. It can be said that the Dredka is the ultimate in the evolution of Bragulan ground warfare, the perfect fusion of Bragulan armor and atomic doctrines . Each Dredka tank is worth the lives of thousands of Legionnaire conscripts - and even if there was only a handful of Dredkas for every poorly-supported thousand-bear conscript horde, that would still mean that the Bragulan armies have innumerable battle tanks to bury their enemies with in an unending wave of steel. Bragalaika General Atomic Artillery Platform Also known as the 'Atomic Aniya' to Bragulan artillerists operating it, and the 'BIG GAAP' to Solarian Marines often subjected to its bombardments, the Bragalaika is based on the Dredka droptank chassis, already rated to survive orbital reentry, and further reinforced to withstand the recoil of the latest, greatest and hugest of Bragulan artillery pieces. Aside from its main gun, the basic Bragalaika is otherwise unarmed and unarmored, and must be delivered dirtside by Great Leap forward landing crafts. Often, it must then travel to the forward lines via battlefield railways set by the engineer corps, since it moves slowly on its own treads it is also equipped with train wheels so it can move by rail independently at a quicker pace. Bragalaikas are usually armed with enormous railguns to hurl rocket-assisted strategic warheads, or clusters of tactical atomics, at remarkable distances to strike surface targets and even orbiting warships. Their chassis can also serve as transporter erector launchers (TELs) for Spuds and other large missiles. Some variants are even armed with atomic death rays for engaging enemy capital ships, but due to cooling issues these 'Atomic Ray Aniyas' are usually deployed in bodies of water to dissipate waste heat and hide their thermal signatures. Shynkanzyn Combat Locomotive The ultimate in Bragulan lithocombative defense, the Combat Locomotive is a triumph of engineeringski and is a crucial element in any large-scale and long-term Imperial Legion occupation. In any heavily garrisoned world, part of the subsequent Bragulanization involves the emplacement of vast rail networks to ensure adequate logistical coverage of all vital Bragulan facilities, beginning from the kosmodromes and reaching out to the Imperial Forward Operations Bases (IFOBs), to bring supplies from orbit up to the very front itself. These railways are made highly resilient to attack, from insurgent sabotage to orbital strikes, and sport multiple redundancies and alternate routes in case of damage. Thus, they make for ideal defensive positions. The Shynkazyns race through these iron arteries, powered by subnucleonic steam engines and gliding swiftly on braglev rails - which separate steel from steel with invisible, and extremely lethal, layers of repulsive gamma-theta radiations. These doom trains constantly move, circulating around Bragulan territories and providing round the clock coverage. Smaller, lighter Shynkazyns can carry point defense batteries and endoatmospheric SAMs interlinked to Molnya MIDAS, while the larger, heavier trains can be armed with everything from their own Spud erector launchers to miniaturized Bragalaika atomic guns and other exoatmospheric-capable and surface-to-space armamentations, complete with multi-sensory arrays to allow the trains to work independently in target acquisition. Shynkazyns can carry multiple cars, with both close-in weapons systems and stand-off systems, or when under duress can split off into its constituent cars, each capable of independent movement, to make targeting them much more difficult. The drawbacks of the Shynkazyns include the inherent limitations of the railway system, and the fact that after prolonged attack attrition ''will ''take its toll, though this is partially mitigated by specialized cars that can lay their own rails ahead of them. Sabotage is difficult due to the nature of the braglev, as any infiltrator without heavy shielding will be dead of radiation poisoning yards away from the rails themselves, and anti-radiation tipped weapons have to contend with fields of burning uranium coals and rad-reflectors used as radiological camouflage. Overall, the Bragulan combat locomotive system is an innovative combination of large and normally static defensive platforms on a moving platform that, while unable to go everywhere, is still more than capable of covering the expanse of any sufficiently fortified territory, and serves as the strategic cornerstone of any prolonged Imperial Legion planetary occupation. Aerospace Power Combat Craft Kyda Tactical Transport The Kyda is a transport craft designed to deliver soldiers directly to the front lines, often into the middle of pitched battles. Unlike the larger Stalag, it is not quite as heavily armed or armored, and thus unlike most Bragulan aerospacecraft in general the Kyda is actually slightly aerodynamic and relies on speed and maneuverability to enter and leave the LZ in one piece. Its armaments are composed of anti-infantry/light vehicle/missile B-NET K-cannons and guided missiles for air-to-air, air-to-ground and anti-tank purposes. For defense its armor plating is rated to withstand small arms fire but not dedicated anti-aircraft weapons, though many models do come fitted with countermeasures such as electronic jammers to vegemite chaff dispensers for increased survivability. The Kyda can accommodate one squad of Bragulan soldiers, with fast-rope winches that can also be used to haul light vehicles, supply pallets and other light cargo. The Kyda is not equipped with any liquid uranium/plutonium afterburners and cannot reach orbit under its own power. It is also incapable of operating in space, though it can be launched from a transport craft that is in the process of atmospheric re-entry and it can likewise land in spacecraft bound for orbit. Aside from the standard Kyda utility transports, a great many versions exist, from reconnaissance craft with enhanced sensors, to tactical command variants with improved communications gear, to armor-hunting Kydas armed with extended-range micronuke missiles. Stalag Gunship The Stalag-class gunship/bomber is the Legions' primary air support vehicle, affectionately called 'Steel Butterfly' by its crews. It can be barely described as aerodynamic but somehow it can not only fly through air at supersonic speeds with its wailing turbofans, but it can also reach orbit with its liquid uranium/plutonium afterburners. In its standard configuration, the Stalag can launch missiles or drop bombs at its targets, or when a more delicate touch is needed, the bomb bay is replaced by underbelly assault cannons, allowing it to act as an aerial artillery piece and tank-killer gunship. The Stalag is a VTOL (variable take-off and landing) aerospacecraft, with an opaque bragsteel canopy and turboramscramfanjets capable of 3D thrust vectoring. Aside from delivering tactical strike packages, the Stalag can perform an overwatch role by loitering or hovering with its turbofanjets for hours and supporting ground troops and armor. It also serves as a very well-armed and well-armored transport for Bragulan infantry, giving normally landlocked ground pounders a chance to man the tailguns and shoot at innocent civilians from the sky. SNT Aerofighter A variant of the SNT-series multifighter optimized for planetary operations. Key changes include trading the twin General Elektryk atomic pulse engines with two turboramscramfanjets and one liquid uranium/plutonium internal combustion afterburner for superior atmospheric and low-orbital performance. Its forward-swept variable geometry swing wings have been widened, and the intricate control surfaces improved, while conversely its passive-aggressive sensor suite has been downgraded as a planetary fighter has no need to engage relativistic targets from thousands of kilometers away. In some respects, the Aerofighter is inferior to the original space SNT, in terms of full speed it is limited to hypersonic velocities by its weaker engines and air friction. In other respects, it is far superior in atmospheric combat. Its key features are hyper-maneuverability and versatility, it can launch from orbiting ships or take off from dirt runways, and it can perform high altitude hypersonic bombings, engage targets in low orbit, or do treetop-level strafing runs for close air support. It is an extremely agile dogfighter that can make mincemeat out of aerospacecraft not specialized for atmospheric flight. With the right pilot the SNT is a deadly adversary in the 'Brag Alleys' of Wild Space already swarmed by mass produced SNTs. The primary weapons of the SNT Aerofighter are dual quad K-cannons for gun-range engagements, and weapons bays for numerous missiles, rockets, bombs or other ordnance with either conventional or nuclear-tipped warheads. External hardpoints also exist, for added armamentation. SVT Interceptor The trusty SNT was an excellent close-range dogfighter and a good enough missile combatant, but the limits of its proletarian design were showing. While 50+ SNTs lost for every F-188 destroyed were favorable odds for the Legion's fighter swarms, some thought it suboptimal and sought to even the odds. Risking de-education by defying the Fifty Year procurement plan, the Bragulan Fighter Mafiya introduced not only a new fighter, but also a new paradigm of Bragulan airspace superiority. The Imperator himself approved of their design and production began shortly after.Byzon is said to have been a maverick renegade ace combatant fighter pilot during the Great Civil War. The SVT is Bragule's entry to the high performance fighter arena. It sacrifices maneuvexerability for breakneck velocity, with four liquid uranium/plutonium thrusters that give it extremely high hypersonic cruising speeds. Its armaments are primarily long-range nuclear missiles guided by an aggressive array powerful enough to double as a hard-radiation/soft-kill jammer. It has no canopy, its crew of four rely on sensors, cathode ray tube telescreens and periscopes for guidance. It can take ridiculous amounts of damage and stay in one piece, in no small part because its smooth un-Bragulanly aerodynamic fuselage is actually milled from a single piece of bragsteel. The SVT takes a 'zoom and boom' approach to air superiority, coordinating with SNTs or Molniya MIDAS to pin down enemy fighters before launching their missiles. In hunting down bombers and even light warships in or near the atmosphere, SVTs operate in packs and use speed and massed missiles from stand-off ranges to down large valuable targets. The SVT also does quite well in the hypersonic bomber role. Its main disadvantages are its low maneuverability and its short loiter time, due to its engines' tendency to burn liquid uranium like vodka cigarettes. Amongst USMC Replicant pilots, the SVT is often called the "Braggart", "Backstab" or "Bastard". The latter two are also popular with Bragulan SNT pilots, because SVTs often launch their missiles indiscriminately into furballs of dogfighting Solarian and Bragulan fighters. It doesn't help that the SVT is also the weapon of choice for Sky Commissars whenever they chase down Bragulan aircraft attempting to defect or retreat without authorization. Sprut Storm-Bomber The Sprut Storm-Bomber is a tried and tested vintage design dating back to the First Solarian War, fulfilling the Imperial Legion's requirements for an aerospacecraft that can violate and penetrate the enemy's aerospace defense grid to deliver devastating thermonuclear strikes at both enemy defense assets and lithocombatants or support advancing Bragulan ground forces with danger close precision tactico-atomic and normo-conventional bombings. As this was before the time of the Bragulan Fighter Mafiya, the Sprut sports little in the way of aerodynamic features like wings, fuselage streamlining or concealed riveting. Instead, it has a boxy and ungainly armored hull with crudely mounted external weapons systems like atomic rocket racks and remote controlled K-cannons. It also has an internal weapons bay for to carry either large gravity bombs like BRAGDAMNs or cruise missiles like Kubs and Moskills. While its outwards appearance is nothing much, performance-wise the Sprut is actually maneuverable in low speeds and its rigid reinforced fuselage allows it to go for high-speed low-altitude approaches or dive bombing runs even when sustaining damage from enemy AAA fire. With liquid uranium/plutonium afterburners, the Sprut can reach escape velocity and enter orbit easily. The Sprut's relatively simple design also allows it to be manufactured en masse, allowing for the easy replacement of battlefield and attritional losses. Mydved Paleobomber Another truly ancient design still in service in the Imperial Legions, the Mydved paleobomber is actually a hand me down from the Space Fleet. It can travel through air and space using a unique combined propulsion system, soaring through the ether on impulse thrusters before reentering the planetary atmosphere and switching to propellers to fly in the sky. The propellers also act as radiators and their radioactive emissions help jam nearby enemy sensors. What is lacking in terms of speed is made up with endurance, the Mydved can stay on continuous non-stop patrol for months, necessitating the provision of tiny living quarters for the crew. The paleobomber's primary role is to loiter in the upper atmosphere and provide sensor coverage to ground foces with its powerful ELINT equipment, or bomb enemies from thousands of miles away. Its standard weapons are long-range cruise missiles such as the Kub and the Moskill, or large quantities of BRAGDAMNs, while light shield generators and tail guns provide defense. Mydveds usually operate in wings, with some in specialized sensor roles coordinating the rest in launching salvos of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons. Prime Movers Krusk Heavy Transport The Krusk is an aerospacecraft similar in design to the Stalag, but on a much larger scale, with four atomic steam turbofans and a cargo compartment that can accommodate a battalion of Legionnaires with their armored vehicles (anything short of a Dredka) or even Kyda and SNT aerospacecraft. Its primary role is to ferry troops and material from space to surface, and serves as an intermediary for the much larger Nul ekranodropships and Myasistryoshka strategic lifters. Usually, Krusks deliver their cargo to forward bases, but they have been known to land in contested areas to deploy large numbers of reinforcements. Defenses include multiple K-cannons, rocket-missile pods, electro-atomic countermeasures, vegemite chaff, and thick bragsteel armor with explosive reactive applique. There have even been proposals for a gunship model mounting atomic howitzers and missiles, like a supersized Stalag. Despite not serving in direct combat roles, Krusks gained notoriety in the Solarian Wars when the Legions used them to haul prisoners to the work camps. They were infamously called "flying prisons", and some suspected that the Brags deliberately carried POWs in their craft to discourage the USMC from shooting them down. Nul Ekranodropship The Nul is a fast moving transport designed for fighting into enemy territory and delivering a sizable quantity of soldiers and warmachines right in the middle of a warzone, or even creating its own landing sites by nuking any enemy forces that happen to be in the way. The Nul has extremely high survivability, as it is meant to be capable of performing its role independently without orbital support. Its thick armored fuselage can withstand multiple direct hits from AA fire, and its armamentations are formidable - with an offensive arsenal of multiple dorsal launchers loaded with nuclear-tipped 08M3 Moskill missiles, and an entire battery of point-defense guns in ball turrets for protection. Propelling the Nul are eight nuclear ramjets with liquid uranium/plutonium afterburners for air and space travel respectively. An ablative paint coating the hull serves as both a heatshield and a countermeasure, as it boils into a radioactive sensor-blinding plume during re-entry. To violate enemy defenses, the Nul uses a combination of countermeasures, sensor jamming, preemptive nuclear attack, and extremely daring flying. After re-entry the Nul dives to an extremely low altitude and flies mere meters off the surface at high speeds, using terrain contour matching to avoid plowing into the ground. Over bodies of water, it can even act as a seaplane, using ground effect to keep it aloft. The Nul can perform water landings, and operations over oceans was a factor in its design, as its ramjets' exhaust can vaporize seawater into mist to obscure it from enemy sensors. The Nul is the transport of choice for well-equipped Shock Armies, as it can haul hundreds of soldiers along with their armor detail with its large size, while ensuring their survival with its considerable armaments. Myasistryoshka Strategic Lifter Nicknamed the 'Big Sis' or the 'Sissy', the Myasistryoshka is a massive transport craft propelled by four pairs of giant oscillating nucleonic repulsors that enable it to haul very heavy loads. It is capable of carrying GAZ MCVs, Dredka overtanks, Bragalaika artillery pieces or thousands of infantry troops inside its cavernous holds. Because its size and the value of its cargo makes it a prime target for enemy air defenses, the Myasistryoshka usually flies through secured aerospace or with a fighter/gunship escort. It is protected by its own shield generators, numerous point-defense turrets, thick armor and a formidable atomic countermeasure suite. Its treaded landing gear allow it to land in dirt runways, though normally proper airfields are prepared in advance by engineering corps with daisy cutter micronukes. Space Transport ''Long March-class Space Barge It was with these ancient vessels, the Long Marches, that the Imperator Byzon conducted his March of Liberation across the vastness of bragspace - ferrying revolutionary vanguards to the beargeoisie planets to defenestrate the enemies of the working-class Bragupoletariats and break their stuff. A space barge can carry whole armies inside its vast bays, along with enough supplies and ammunition to wage a global thermonuclear war with plenty of left-overs for the ensuing post-atomic occupation. While slow and ponderous, a space barge's range and endurance allows it to travel long and far to bring the Imperator's light, and his relentless armies, to even the remotest regions of space. A Long March ''is so large that it cannot enter a planetary atmosphere and must rely on a fleet of interface craft and transports to bring its war-mongering passengers planetside, which can be a tedious process. While in orbit, it can provide overhead artillery support with antiquated battery of K-bolters and its cargo compartments can double as bomb bays for BRAGDAMNs whenever saturation carpet bombing is required, or even when it isn't. It also has two massive-aggressive arrays to look for threats both on- and off-world, and while obsolete these sensors compensate for their technofossilization with the typical Bragulan solution of sheer power. It is not unheard of for a ''Long March that is conserving its weapons for more valuable targets to turn up the intensity of its radars to fry civilian population centers from orbit. However, ancient weapons and mighty vacuum tube radars cannot defend the Long March ''from dedicated enemy warships, and while its shield generators are exceptionally robust, it still requires escorts from the Space Fleet, such as gunskimmers or even paleocruisers of the same age group as the space barge. ''Great Leap-class Forward Landing Craft The'' Great Leap'' forward landing craft is the primary means by which the Legions of Liberation invades whole worlds. Each enormous vessel can carry countless troops with complete armor and artillery support, and can descend into the atmosphere to disgorge the invasion forces on the ground. These landers were first seen in the Bragulan invasion of Formalhaut in the 3100s, which saw the occupation of several continents by the Legions. The Great Leap owes its name to the fact that Bragulan airborne troops were originally expected to jump off it and parachute down along with light tanks and armored vehicles also equipped with gliders and chutes. The name then took on a new meaning when the vessels were used to invade fortified Solarian worlds, where they were downed by planetary defense systems... only to crash land intact before going on to unleash hordes of tanks and troops upon the surprised defenders. The grounded Great Leaps then served as forward bases and makeshift bunkers, using their remaining shield generators and weapons to cover atomic artillery and support mass advances. Today, Great Leaps are still used in Bragulan invasions, and have been progressively upgraded with even heavier layers of bragcrete serving as both reentry heat shield and reinforced bunker armor. The modern Great Leaps are even more robust than their predecessors and when not deliberately beaching themselves right on top of cities, often hover menacingly in the air while using their retro-thrusters to incinerate civilian population centers. Support Elements Molnya MIDAS The Molnya Mobile Integrated Defense of Aerospace System (MIDAS) is a fully integrated battle network linking planetary anti-air and anti-space platforms to form a protective grid covering all levels of the endo- and exo-atmosphere, capable of engaging low and high altitude threats up to and beyond the mesosphere and even warships in orbit. The MIDAS is continuously improved and modernized as it protects high value assets, like columns of slow-moving Dredkas and atomic artillery batteries vulnerable to bombardment. Molnya can interlink with everything from the lowliest half-track mounted K-bolter CIWS cannons to advanced Kubuk missile systems. Molnya MIDAS is a response to the USMC's extreme maneuver warfare doctrine, in which near-static Bragulan ground formations were poorly equipped to counter. Nearly every USMC ground vehicle was actually an aircraft by Legion standards, which presented a problem for its conventional lithocombat doctrines. Molnya was the solution, based on the BRAEGIS defense system on warships, but spread out to a whole fleet of specialist vehicles (i.e. AAA half-tracks, missile Chornybs, Kubuks, etc.) and redundant sensor suites. MIDAS platforms do not need to be stationary to engage targets, and can lock on and fire while on the road accompanying armored advances. The MIDAS touches all atmospheric layers, from low-altitude point defense, to mid-altitude SAMs and anti-orbital nukes. Not only does it protect ground formations, but gunships and slower transports can also operate safely within its effective defense radius. Molnya boasts water-cooled computronic processor units, digital controls and cutting edge cybragnetic interfaces. GAZ Heavy Utility and Mobile Construction Vehicle The extreme scale which the Imperial Legions operates necessitates support vehicles of similar tonnage. The GAZ is designed to haul extremely heavy loads through the worst terrain imaginable. It is powered by no less than four atomic turbines, which can last for a century and can be used to power bases or small cities. It has more than enough power to haul Spud tractor erector launchers, carry massive engineering equipment like bridges and prefab bunker buildings, shove destroyed Dredkas out of the way with dozers or drag damaged overtanks away for repair, mount Molnya MIDAS over-the-atmosphere arrays, lay combat railways or steamroll asphalt roads with specialized gear, serve as moving command centers, mount mobile tactical theater shield generators, or simply haul megatons worth of supplies. Atomic Curtain Theater Defense System The Atomic Curtain is a static theater shield fortification used when the Imperial Legion deems it fit to stay on a planet for a long while. Unlike tactical shield systems, such as those mounted on some large land vehicles, that can emit englobulating force fields for hundreds of meters around them, the Atomic Curtain operates on a much larger scale - it projects walls of solid atomic energy to blanket areas spanning'' kilometers. ''An Atomic Curtain is a capital ship-grade shield generator, but it truly shines with a healthy atomic glow when used in numbers to create a nigh unbreakable grid capable of withstanding continuous orbital bombardment for long periods of time. During the First Solarian War, Bragulan holdouts in Formalhaut and Kimanjano were able to weather months of continuous orbital strikes by the USSF until their Atomic Curtains were finally overwhelmed, leaving the Legionnaires under their protection to be bombed to rubble. Prolonged usage of Atomic Curtains can have disastrous environmental effects, from irradiating the crust to permanently damaging the planetary ionosphere. Atomic Curtains are usually situated near bodies of water, which are dammed by engineers. In protracted sieges, the dams are blown to flood the Atomic Curtains in water and keep them cool. Vshkhyd Skyward Attack Capsule / Vertical Assault Vehicle The Vshkhyd is the standard issue failsafe for Shock Army beachhead bases in the event of a general withdrawal in the face of advancing enemy forces, where all Bragulan personnel are to evacuate from their facilities and launch into space for retrieval by friendly ships in orbit. Its designers recognized that the sheer size of Bragulan ground formations precluded quick aerospace retrieval in the vein of the USMC, and that any withdrawal would invariably leave behind entire bases and war material ripe for plundering. Thus they built the Vshkhyd to be large enough to sardine thousands of troops in its holds, with a fuselage milled from a single piece of bragsteel and further covered in ablative bragcrete heatshielding concentrated at the bottom to create a pusher plate. The Vshkhyd is not propelled upwards by subatomic pulse engines or liquid uranium/plutonium thrusters, but instead ejects several multi-megaton warheads during its ascent, using the blast waves to push it into space. Consequently, this deals with the problem of leaving behind abandoned equipment for the enemy to pillage, as the bragbases and everything inside them will be thoroughly irradiated and vaporized by the Vshkhyd's exit, hopefully taking out some of the enemies with them in the ensuing nuclear conflagration. The name 'Skyward Attack Capsule' and 'Vertical Assault Vehicle' stems from the fact that the Bragstavka do not consider planetary withdrawals to be retreats, as the evacuating troopers are merely attacking in a vertico-ascentive direction. Notes and References Category:Bragule Category:Ground Forces Category:Military Vehicles